Cheating?

[Vertigo]

I read an article recently in GFW magazine about cheating in games, apparently there's actually been a serious study of the phenomenon and a recent book published on the topic. Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames by Mia Consalvo ( link (http://www.amazon.com/Cheating-Advantage-Videogames-Mia-Consalvo/dp/0262033658) )

I did some snooping after the article and decided to order the book, the article made me start thinking and examining my own ePrejudices, etc. And I thought I'd ask here, what do you consider cheating in video games? Do you cheat?

[Luke122]

I'm a fan of cheat codes only in certain situations. I wont cheat against other players, or against the game itself, but it's nice to be able to unlock all the features of a game for use in multiplayer without having to spend hours going through the single player content.

This applies mostly to racing games, and other multiplayer situations such as Tony Hawk, etc.

[dgrmkrp]

I cheat. Or used to.. I haven't played a game (..for more than half an hour to see how it plays on my system) in a few years now... Well, I played a few games that had no cheats I knew of, so I didn't count them in.. Except starcraft, age of empires 2 and counter strike, all other games where I could cheat, I cheated :) It is somewhat empowering in a strategy to beat the opponent all out.. especially if you just want to see how a game looks :)

[xRyokenx]

Unless it's like the Sims and you start out with too little cash or just something along those terms, I don't look up codes. I have this bad habit of using them too much whenever in a game, Morrowind is a prime example of that, I'd go into the console and just give myself too much good gear and set my skills too high, etc. I can't help it. Hence why I don't look 'em up, lol. I do get mods for games though, not god mods, those get annoying. Like, I have a crapload of mods for Oblivion that introduce better weather, water that isn't so damn murky, better textures for the people, etc. etc. I tried a mod where it got rid of the level restrictions on monsters and items, but that got tough, fighting a giant ogre at level one was impossible, and getting full glass armor with an enchanted ebony claymore was lame too, couldn't sell the loot (I can't just leave it, it's not greed, it's a sense of not wasting stuff that I've got) as I couldn't carry it or the shop keepers didn't have enough gold, etc. etc. But yeah, fun game though. I love just going into a dungeon and shooting bandits with a bow when they don't know where you are, and all of that good stuff.

[Blebbz]

I absolutely lovve cheat codes, but I only use them once I've completed a game, it feels so wrong when you complete a game, with reams of cheat codes at the side of you lmao. So now I've made a promise to myself - not to cheat until I complete a game and just want to lark about. But who needs cheats when you can play online on custom maps with loads of nifty tricks and custom objects.

[Spawn-Inc]

i used to cheat alot (only in single player games) i try not to anymore but sometimes it makes the game better. i never cheat on steam games as i don't want a ban. and cheating is handy like others have said when you want to unlock stuff you just can't.

[Blebbz]

Yeah it's a waste of part of a game really if you cheat with steam games, but who can blame 'em for stoppin cheaters. Then again anti-cheat has caused me a lot of problems in the past. Very buggy, and for that reason, I don't bother buying steam games. Oh i bought Half-Life two for xbox... but thats it really lol

[D1337]

I used to cheat in single player games as a kid, only when something was too hard (took more then 30 tries) or was just straight out only unlockable by using codes.

I do hack online mmorpg's just to combat the constant grind fest, but i wouldn't hack or cheat in FPS games, strategy games or anything that requires skill. Unless... I'd have a significant gain from it, IE special weapons for high ranks, cash, prizes etc. I also wouldnt ever sell accounts or gold because that ruins the game for the die hard players.

[shooter05]

I will usually cheat to see how to get though a level or something like that, if I'm having a hardtime getting through it. Sometimes my son and I do it just to fast forward. I don't save them and will go back to where I wasn't cheating with a little more knowledge. I don't see anything wrong with it when your playing a game by yourself.

[Greco101]

I've cheated in MP games and really, it can be fun but it's chicken****. It's when you stop cheating completely that you gain skill in a game. I was checking a banned character in BHD I had yeaaaars ago and my stats were almost 1:1. My non-cheating character are 4:1. Once I got banned in Black Hawk Down I quit cheating in online games... also because I know how lame it is to come across them.

Single player games? Well, in games such as NFSU2, I use a money cheat that adds 10g every time you use it and that's about it. I'm not too fond of infin money because it tends to get boring fast like pretty much any game after you put in a cheat.

[.Maleficus.]

I'll cheat _after_ I finish the game.

And I don't cheat in multiplayer.

[BigJohnson]

I used to cheat at the original command and conquer and age of empires. I took a break from most cpu games and when WC3: RoC came out it was out of my system. Although, I did cheat often in GTA. The lower your wanted level so you could go all out and destroy everything was cool when you were bored.

[computergeek19]

I only have cheated in gta san andreas but only when I am bored and need to do major damage. I used to cheat on the sims 2 but it was only for the money cheat but now with business expansion is fun to make your own money, lol.

[noopypoop]

I absolutely lovve cheat codes, but I only use them once I've completed a game, it feels so wrong when you complete a game, with reams of cheat codes at the side of you lmao. So now I've made a promise to myself - not to cheat until I complete a game and just want to lark about. But who needs cheats when you can play online on custom maps with loads of nifty tricks and custom objects.

this is what i do too. i like to see how hard it is without cheats and all the stuf i can do. then i start a new game with cheats to see just how strong u can get etc

[Omega]

I try to refrain from cheating until I've beat the game, and I've actually done so (sans Half-Life, where I was out of grenades and ammo for all weapons and needed them to get past a certain part -- and no, the crowbar wouldn'tve sufficed). Afterwords, though, playing it with codes (sk_plr_num_pellets 2000 ftw) can be tons of fun (for those who don't know, sk_plr_num_pellets is the number of pellets the HL2 shotgun main fire shoots, standard is 7, when it's up to like 2000 you can shoot moveable objects across maps or kill like 10 combine dudes from far away with one shot)

Most of the time I do use codes is just fiddling around (part of the reason why I love Garry's Mod), especially in HL2 where you can get full control over the physics engine, weapons stats, etc. It'd be better if it was more in depth though, like weapon firing rates, model sizes, etc, but it's still fun.

Online I will only "cheat" if it's a bug in the game/map, even then hardly. But like, one UT2k4 map that I play, you can get under the map and kill people or in WoW you could get under a number of cities and into a number of normally inaccessible areas. Most of the time when I'd do that, it wouldn't be to gain an advantage over somebody, but just to mess around.

[simon275]

I would cheat in the GTA games at times when I got bored of the missions and wanted to go on a rampage.

[haha49]

I'm a fan of cheat codes only in certain situations. I wont cheat against other players, or against the game itself, but it's nice to be able to unlock all the features of a game for use in multiplayer without having to spend hours going through the single player content.

This applies mostly to racing games, and other multiplayer situations such as Tony Hawk, etc.

ya... i hate haveing to beat the game 4 times just to unlock a few cars ect.. but never cheat online.. no point really if you get worked goto another sever and train to get better

[Gen.Omega]

I dont mind cheating after I beat the game because it makes it more fun, or maybe I wish to skip a boring part. Especially games, RPG games, where you can usually make yourself a mega-tough enemy.

Warzone 2100 for the Playstation I cheated on without beating. When you got so far into the game where you were getting attacked by laser satellited the game would suddenly either freeze/crash/something, I dont remember but you had seconds to do the next level code.

[Xpirate]

Cheat codes are great if you buy a game that you don't have the skills to defeat and you still want to see how the story ends. I have used cheat codes on games that I don't have the arcade skill to defeat. When you get older you loose some of your eye hand coordination.

[Scotty]

I hack it all, get into the other players PC and shut him down where it hurts....


On a more serious note. I don't cheat much now, when i was younger it made things quicker, like not doing a level, getting that extra (ok most powerful) weapon.

On one game Dawn of War, online had cheat codes for Extra resources etc, but i only used that when i started, after doing it normally and rushing from normal resources when ever someone wanted to play me with more, they got pwn'd

[public_eyesore]

I cheat all the frikin time just cause its fun, but never online where other people are affected.

edit: I think the only games I ever beat without cheats were pokemon, wario ware, KOTOR, and kingdom hearts bwahahahaaaa

[luciusad2004]

I don't cheat but i do act like an A-hole when i play halo pc. I don't know why, In ANY other game, im the nicest person but something about halo turns me in to a jerk. For a while i made a bad habit of joining random servers and just team killing EVERYONE. I also considered downloading an aimbot, but i could never find one. I don't know what it was about that game. Oh well, my pc doesn't run games anymore for some reason so i can't do that anymore.

Other than that, no cheating for me unless i have beaten the game... or its something like the sims were i just want to have fun.

[xRyokenx]

I can understand in the Sims as you start with no money, lol.

I kicked ass in this one custom map in Halo, I flew around on this little plane and took out everyone. I had ten people on me and I didn't die once. ^_^

[d_stilgar]

I think cheating is when someone uses a hack in a game to ruin the fun for others. That's real cheating.

My view on cheating in single player is different. In Animal Crossing there are 15 playable original NES games. Most of them are impossible to get. It just plain isn't programmed into the game to be able to get them, so I cheated to get them. I mean, I payed $20 for the game. I want to get my full $20 out of it.

I cheated in Rise of Legends because I found the game to be tedious, but I wanted to finish the story. I'm glad I cheated in that case, it was actually more fun. I also tell people that I cheated so that I'm not a liar.

[crenn]

I didn't cheat in SupCom..... because I didn't know you could!

[xRyokenx]

I've modded the hell out of Oblivion, but none of them are god mode mods... I have some that increase weapon damage for realism and improve textures and weather and all... I only got the one where you get an amulet to change your class, race, etc. just because if I ever felt like changing anything around I wanted some options... that and my character was kind of ugly due to a facial texture revamp.

[public_eyesore]

What's with all the "well, I did cheat... but only to do such and such". I love how you guys all try to trick you selves into thinking you're not a cheater.

[xRyokenx]

What's with all the "well, I did cheat... but only to do such and such". I love how you guys all try to trick you selves into thinking you're not a cheater.

I do it with other things too! Just like how I have a skewed view of myself, heh heh. (Nervus lafter neyds to go alon with this shorter spelin of thins) But yeah... curious, ain't it?

Ooh! I know! It's not cheating, it's enhanced gameplay! :rolleyes:

[Vertigo]

Well, I got the book recently and have been reading it. It's an interesting read, and so far I'd definitely recommend it to my fellow geeks here. It definitely IS interesting how we as gamers rationalize our cheating habits, for instance using a "strategy guide" could easilly be considered cheating, but how many can honestly say they've never done it or would never do it. Bots, aim hacks, speed hacks, etc. Or, it's ok as long as it's single player, or ok as long as <insert variable here>. The book and this thread has kinda opened my eyes to my own previous prejudices and double standards in the realm of cheating.

[luciusad2004]

wait... I got it....

If your cheating, the only thing your cheating is yourself!

[d_stilgar]

My personal opinion is that if you aren't affecting the gameplay of others, do whatever the heck you want. You payed for the game, so it is your business what you do with it. Now it would be another story if I cheated in a game and then came here and bragged about how I beat it in 13 minutes, never died, has such and such armor, ect. It would also be very different if I were playing on a server and hacking it to always get a head shot. Those two things are dishonest, and ruin the fun for others. But I stand by the argument that gaming should be fun. If playing a game gets to be too much like a chore, and you feel like reading a book or turning on god mode to finish, that is fine by me. Did you enhance or ruin your gameplay experience by doing this? I think that is up to the individual gamer to decide.